The Cross River Government has engaged another 5,000 Cross River indigenes under the Youth Employment and Social Support Operations (YESSO) programme for a monthly payment of N7,500 to each beneficiary.

Displaying the beneficiaries register on Friday in Calabar, Mr Asu Okang, Commissioner for Sport and Youth Development, said the programme was designed to engage the youths in meaningful activities.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that YESSO is a state-led programme funded by credit from the World Bank to provide social safety services to the youth.

He said that the programme which was in line with the state’s policy on eradicating poverty had engage young people from 18 years to 35 years in various jobs like office cleaning, grass cutting, traffic control among others.

According to him, with the engagement of the second 5,000 young people into the register, the state now has 10,000 beneficiaries in the YESSO programme.

He explained that the first batch of the beneficiaries was engaged in 2018 from young people selected across the 18 local government area of the state.

“As a state, we adopted this programme because of the benefits it will have on our young people.

“The administration of Gov. Ben Ayade is so desirous of engaging young people in meaningful activities.

“With this fresh 5,000 beneficiaries added into the programme we are sure that this very effort will keep our young ones out of restiveness,’’ he said.

Speaking, State Coordinator of YESSO, Mr Ofegobi Balinwo, said the programme had four components which included the Coordination of people into the register, the Conditional Cash Transfer, the Public Welfare Component and the Educational Level for beneficiaries.

Balinwo explained that the programme also trained young people with skills that would aid them to be self employed.

According to him, the beneficiaries were selected from vulnerable homes with a view to helping them benefit from the stipend.

“The gains we have made through the programme are remarkable and we need to do more than that.

“Cross River is the only state in the South-South zone that is benefiting from this programme,’’ he said.